Blog

Online Retail: What You Can Improve Now

Another holiday shopping season is upon us, which means crowded stores, packed parking lots, and general holiday season mayhem. Who wouldn’t rather stay home and cozy up to the glow-y blue light of the online shopping experience?

Online shopping has certainly increased in popularity, but it hasn’t quite taken over in the way some might have predicted.

We’re seeing customers turning to online channels for increasingly specific kinds of shopping tasks and to supplement the in-store experience.

Here are 4 common tasks shoppers are completing online:

Purchasing niche or hard-to-find products

Comparing prices for common products

Exploring similar or parallel products

Getting a handle on product trends

We are also seeing customers shopping in-store while online with their mobile devices – comparing prices, finding similar products at nearby competitors or sharing their shopping experience with a friend.

Are you ready to meet your customers’ expectations for this kind of hybrid shopping experience?

Have a look at this handy rubric to quickly assess how you measure up.

How did you score? What can you do to improve your online experience before the next shopping season hits? Ensure you have an online presence that focuses on service and convenience in tandem with a consistent in-store experience.

At Usability Matters, we’re seeing e-business leaders rapidly work towards creating an “ecosystem of value” that sees the mobile and in-store channels working together to create the best possible customer experience.

Like what you see? Tweet this and share what you’re seeing with online shopping this holiday season via @UMatters